Sandspiel
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Sandbox World: Sand ArtBack to the main gameSandspiel is a falling-sand game that runs free in the browser with no download needed. You place elements on a canvas and watch them interact: water flows downhill, fire spreads through dry plants, lava cools into stone. It works on desktop and on mobile, so you can play it at school or at work wherever browser games are allowed. The game doubles as a creative tool. Pause the simulation to place elements precisely, then unpause and watch the chain reactions play out. When you are happy with what you made, you can upload it and browse what others have built.
What is Sandspiel?
Sandspiel is a pixel-art sandbox simulation made by Max Bittker and released in December 2018 under the MIT License. The core loop is simple: pick an element from a palette of 20, paint it onto the canvas, and let the physics engine do the rest. Elements obey rules about density, flammability, and reactivity, so the outcomes emerge from how you combine them rather than from any scripted level. There are no goals, no score, and no end state. It is a sandbox in the purest sense.
Elements and how they react
Each element in Sandspiel has a defined set of behaviors. The table below shows the main categories and what they do in contact with each other.
| Element type | Example | Key behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Solid | Wall, stone | Holds liquids and gases in place; lava cools to stone on contact with water |
| Liquid | Water | Flows downhill; extinguishes fire; causes plant growth when near seeds |
| Gas | Steam, smoke | Rises upward; escapes over the top of containers if not sealed |
| Combustible | Plant, wood | Burns when fire touches it; spread rate depends on density |
| Heat source | Fire, lava | Spreads to combustible neighbors; lava solidifies when cooled |
Controls and brush options
All interaction is through the mouse. The table below covers the controls available in the browser version.
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Place element | Left mouse button, click or drag |
| Adjust brush size | Scroll wheel or on-screen slider |
| Undo last stroke | Undo button in the toolbar |
| Pause or resume | Pause button in the toolbar |
| Switch element | Click palette icon |
Building chain reactions
The most interesting setups in Sandspiel come from layering elements so that one reaction triggers the next. A simple example: plant seeds in soil, run water over them to grow a dense forest, then drop a single spark at the edge. The fire travels through the canopy, steam rises from any water it hits, and if lava is nearby it may cool into a stone wall that stops the spread.
Solid elements are the key to controlling flows. Gas and liquid will fill any open path, so boxing them in with walls lets you direct where they go. Leaving a gap creates a pressure release point, which is useful for setting up timed reactions.
Sharing and the community gallery
Sandspiel has a built-in upload feature. Once you have a canvas you want to keep, hit the upload button and it gets saved to the public gallery. From there, anyone can open your creation and remix it, adding new elements or changing the layout. Browsing the gallery is a good way to see techniques you would not have thought to try on your own.